Stephen Lang‘s performance as Colonel Quaritch was one of the best things about Avatar. Of course, like most villains in standard adventure movies, he met his demise in a grandiose fashion. In this case, it was taking three huge arrows to the chest after losing a mech battle to Jake Sully (Sam Worthington). But for director James Cameron, such a brutal death shouldn’t mean the end of the delightful character.

Hit the jump for more. Avatar 2 will begin filming this October for December 2016 (set your calendars now!) with two more sequels to follow.

According to Variety, Lang is the first piece of casting following Worthington, but it’s currently unknown (and will be for quite some time) how the character will return. Maybe he had some super-secret avatar clone. Maybe he drank some Tree of Souls revival juice. Maybe he had twin brother like Sully. Screenwriter Josh Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) will have to figure it out.

If Lang continues to play a villain (or maybe his speculative twin is good!), I wonder where that leaves the rumor of Arnold Schwarzenegger being tipped to play the heavy. Of course, there’s room for more than one villain, especially when you spread the story out over three movies.